Department for Education

Teachers: Training

Baroness Eaton: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that teacher training includes, as standard, specific training on teaching young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

Baroness Barran: The Teachers’ Standards set clear expectations that teachers must understand the needs of all pupils, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). All trainees who achieve Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) must demonstrate that they can adapt teaching to respond to the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND.Initial teacher training (ITT) courses must be designed so that teacher trainees can demonstrate that they meet all the Teachers' Standards at the appropriate level, including the requirement in Standard 5, that all teachers must have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils.To support all teachers to meet these standards, the Department has implemented high quality teacher training reforms which begin with ITT and continues into early career teaching, through to the reformed suite of leadership and specialist national professional qualifications (NPQ), ensuring that teachers have the skills to support all pupils to succeed, including those with SEND.Since 2020 the Initial Teacher Training Core Content Framework (CCF) has included content on adapting teaching to the strengths and needs of all pupils, and since delivery started from 2021, the Early Career Framework has built on that learning for Early Career Teachers. These reforms support our ambition that all new teachers starting in the profession learn how to meet the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND.On 2 March 2023, we published the SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan in response to the Green Paper published in March last year. This outlines the department's mission for the SEND and AP system to fulfil children’s potential, build parents’ trust and provide financial sustainability. We are also building a confident expert workforce, training up to 5,000 new early years Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (SENCos). Furthermore, an over 50% increase in high needs funding to over £10 billion by 2023-24, compared to £6.1 billion in 2018-19, will help children and young people with SEND in both special schools and mainstream schools receive the right support.As part of that plan, the department will be conducting a review of the ITT Core Content Framework and Early Career Framework together this year, which will consider further opportunities to improve how the frameworks support new teachers to meet the needs of pupils with SEND.

Special Educational Needs: Reviews

Lord Young of Cookham: To ask His Majesty's Government when they will respond to their SENDreview: right support, right place, right time consultation, which ran from 29 March 2022 to 22 July 2022.

Baroness Barran: On 2 March the department published the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan in response to the SEND Review Green Paper. This outlines the department’s mission for the SEND and AP system to fulfil children’s potential, build trust and provide financial sustainability.

Ministry of Justice

Funerals

Lord Birt: To ask His Majesty's Government whatassessment they have made of the current range of waiting times for funerals; and whether they will investigate the reasons for delays in areas of the UK with the longest wait times.

Lord Bellamy: The Government does not have operational responsibility for the provision of funeral services and as such does not collate information on waiting times for funerals. However, we are aware of some areas experiencing longer waiting times for funeral services and we are working with other government departments and the sector to address capacity and resilience issues within the death management system.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Plastics: Seas and Oceans

The Marquess of Lothian: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings of the new study by the Five Gyres Institute published in the journal Plos One on 8 March, concerning the increase in the amount of microplastic in the world’s oceans in the past 15 years; and what steps they will take, with international partners, in response to that report.

Lord Benyon: Marine litter, including microplastics, is one of the greatest environmental challenges we are currently facing, reiterated by the new study by the Five Gyres Institute. Whilst we have not yet made an assessment of the findings of this latest study, we will continue to draw from a wide range of evidence and assessments to develop our policy, including any new research, enabling us to take the best possible action domestically, regionally and internationally to tackle the issue of marine microplastics and improve our understanding of their sources, pathways, impacts, distribution and abundance. Domestically, we are working to prevent plastic from entering the environment in the first place by eliminating the most problematic plastics; we have already banned microbeads in rinse-off personal care products and we have funded research to examine wider sources of microplastics, including tyres and textiles. This research will help to inform future policy. As a Contracting Party to the OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic, the UK participates in monitoring programmes to assess regional trends in marine litter. Technical experts from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) have been leading an expert group to develop a new indicator for microlitter (including microplastics) in seafloor sediments, which could be used in future to inform regional policy. The UK is a leading voice in tackling marine plastic pollution, co-sponsoring the proposal to prepare a new international, legally binding plastics treaty and taking an ambitious stance at the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC1) in November last year. At INC1, the UK supported a treaty that will restrain the production and consumption of plastic to sustainable levels, address plastic design and encourage more recycling and re-use of plastic, in order to end plastic pollution, including microplastic pollution.

Countryside: Access

Baroness Kennedy of Cradley: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have madeof the rights of walkers in England in accessing the countryside.

Lord Benyon: The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that walkers have the right to access the countryside, and there is legislation and mapping tools in place to support this. The Highways Act 1980 and The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 provide for the creation of new public rights of way, recording of existing rights of way and changes to the network. Similarly, the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 created open access land where walkers can roam freely. The Government has developed Open Access maps, which allow walkers to identify areas of open access land, as well as Rights of Way Improvement Plans (ROWIPs) which require local authorities to assess and improve the condition of existing rights of way. The government has also provided funding through the Revenue Support Grant (RSG) to support local authorities in delivering their ROWIPs.

Countryside: Disability

Baroness Kennedy of Cradley: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve access to the countryside for people who use wheelchairs in England.

Lord Benyon: The Government has taken steps to improve access to the countryside for people who use wheelchairs in England such as committing to make the England Coast Path as easy to use as possible for those with disabilities. Our Access for All programme has committed £14.5m to make targeted access improvements in our protected landscapes, national trails, forests and the wider countryside to help bring the benefits of spending time in nature to everyone. For example, supporting Miles without Stiles programme to improve accessibility in the Peak District National Park. Additionally, the Government has extended its Farming in Protected Landscapes programme to improve accessibility in our National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, including installing interpretation panels, replacing gates and stiles to improve access for people who use wheelchairs, and creating new permissive paths on farms and estates.

Forests

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reverse the reportedhistoric deforestation of native woodland ecosystems; and what funding they are providing for that.

Lord Benyon: We have legislated a statutory tree and woodland target to increase tree canopy and woodland cover of England to 16.5% by 2050. By laying a statutory long-term tree and woodland target before Parliament we have ensured trees and woodlands will remain a government priority through to 2050. Forestry England continue to restore plantations on ancient woodland sites with restoration of around 20,000ha being carried out over the last 10 years. Work on restoring other habitats on the public estate continues. By 2050 and beyond we will, improve the condition of the majority of native woodland to make sure they’re either in favourable ecological condition or improving by 2030. We will also restore or gradually restore the majority of plantations on ancient woodland sites to native woodland by 2030.

Inland Waterways: Freight

Baroness Randerson: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to amend the guidelines followed by the Environment Agency so that priority is given to proposals and planning applications that enable access to freight transported on waterways, rather than roads; and what account the Environment Agency takes of the emission reductions and health benefits of moving freight from roads to waterways.

Lord Benyon: The Department for Transport operates two freight revenue grant schemes to encourage modal shift from road to rail or water. These are Mode Shift Revenue Support (MSRS) for rail and inland waterways and Waterborne Freight Grant (WFG) for coastal and short sea shipping. MSRS assists companies with the operating costs associated with running rail or inland water freight transport instead of road, where rail or inland waterway transport is more expensive. WFG can assist a company with the operating costs associated with running waterborne freight transport instead of road, where transport by water is more expensive. The Government has committed £20 million per year towards these two schemes. The MSRS grants are awarded through a competitive bid round process and applications are considered for funding on the basis of value for money. The amount of grant is capped by the estimated benefit of the mode shift, calculated by using Mode Shift Benefit Values (MSBs). The MSBs are an estimate of the economic, environmental and other social benefits of removing one lorry mile of freight from the road and transferring it to rail or water. The MSRS grant scheme helps remove up to 900,000 lorry journeys per year from Britain’s roads, saving up to 58,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions and has been a vital tool for supporting the Government’s environmental priorities.

Department of Health and Social Care

Urine Drainage Bags

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have received from (1) theMedTech Directorate, (2) the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, (3) HMRC, and (4) the Department for Business and Trade, about (a) the import of urine drainage bags, (b) the security of supply of such devices, and (c) the cost to the NHS of imposing tariffs on such imports.

Lord Markham: Information relating to representations made on this matter by different Departments and agencies is not held centrally. In 2021, the Government implemented temporary tariff suspensions on a set of goods, including urine drainage bags, to support the healthcare response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government has extended the majority of these suspensions until 31 December 2023. We have recently received stakeholder feedback on tariffs on urine drainage bags and are considering the evidence provided alongside wider United Kingdom Government analysis.

Avian Influenza: Cambodia

The Lord Bishop of Exeter: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the dangers of the spread of the H5N1 virus, following the death of a girl in Cambodia.

Lord Markham: The World Health Organization (WHO) carried out a risk assessment of avian influenza (H5N1) following the Cambodian fatality and assessed the risk to the general population to be low. The UK Health Security Agency continues to investigate the risk to human health of H5N1. The risk analysis has not changed and aligns with the current WHO assessment.

Health Services: Migrant Workers

Lord Willis of Knaresborough: To ask His Majesty's Government whetherthe Care Quality Commission is responsible for ensuring entrants to England on Health and Social Care visas and work permits are employed under the same terms and conditions as UK domiciled staff; and if not, who is responsible for their conditions of employment.

Lord Willis of Knaresborough: To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Care Quality Commission is responsible for ensuring that home-based health and community care meets acceptable national standards; and if not, who is.

Lord Markham: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) do not have a role to routinely ensure that entrants to England on Health and Social Care visas and work permits are employed under the same terms and conditions as United Kingdom domiciled staff. However, as part of CQC’s regulatory role, staffing governance is considered during CQC inspections at providers. If CQC identify areas of incorrect practice they would work with relevant agencies such as the Home Office to rectify any issues raised. CQC regulate all health and care services that want to conduct a Regulated Activity, as defined by the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. CQC’s scope of registration document defines the types of organisations which need to register, including domiciliary care providers, community nursing services or integrated care teams, including district nursing, community matrons and specialist nursing services, community therapy services such as occupational therapy and physiotherapy, community intermediate care, community rehabilitation or reablement services and community outpatient and diagnostic services. All services are regulated by CQC to ensure they meet the minimum fundamental standards of care. CQC’s regulatory frameworks refer to national best practice, and CQC expect regulated providers to demonstrate how they meet these, or how alternative methods achieve the same or better outcomes for people using services.

Prescription Drugs: Addictions

The Earl of Sandwich: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to support the provision of tapering strips which enable patients to withdraw from prescribed drugs slowly and safely.

Lord Markham: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline 'Medicines associated with dependence or withdrawal symptoms: safe prescribing and withdrawal management for adults' includes information for both health professionals and patients on the safe withdrawal from medicines. As part of the evidence review for this guideline, tapering strips were considered for their potential use in decreasing patient doses and withdrawing from antidepressants but no evidence was identified. A recommendation was made in the final guideline for further research on the effectiveness of equipment, technologies, practical aids and medicine formulations in supporting people to manage dose reductions, compared with usual practice. NICE keeps its guidance under review to ensure that it reflects any developments in the evidence base. A copy of this guidance is attached.NICE guidance on medicines dependence/withdrawal (pdf, 266.8KB)

Health: Disadvantaged

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking toreduce poverty-related health inequalities.

Lord Markham: The Government announced on 24 January 2023 that it will publish a Major Conditions Strategy, with an interim report to be published in the summer. The strategy will set out a policy agenda undertaking a shift to integrated, whole-person care, and will also apply a geographical lens to each condition to address regional disparities in health outcomes, supporting the levelling up mission to narrow the gap in healthy life expectancy by 2030. Interventions set out in the strategy will aim to alleviate pressure on the health system, as well as support the Government’s objective to increase healthy life expectancy and reduce ill-health-related labour market inactivity.

Orthopaedics: Waiting Lists

Baroness Merron: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost to the economy of the 55 per cent of patients waiting for orthopaedic treatment who are economically inactive due to their condition.

Lord Markham: No formal estimate has been made. The COVID-19 pandemic has put enormous pressures on the National Health Service with elective waiting lists growing to over 7.2 million patients, but the Department remains committed to ensuring people get the right care at the right time. That is why we are delivering record staffing numbers and putting in record levels of funding, to help the NHS recover and transform services. Having virtually met our target to eliminate long waits of two years or more for elective procedures in July, our next ambition is to eliminate waits of eighteen months or more by April 2023.

Electronic Cigarettes: Children

Lord Storey: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment theyhave made of the number of children smoking e-cigarettes; and what plans they have to put an age limit on sales.

Lord Markham: There has been an increase in vaping and e-cigarette use amongst children aged 11 to 15 years old, as shown in the latest National Health Service Smoking Drinking and Drug Use survey data, which is available in an online-only format. This found that in 2021, 9% of pupils aged 11 to 15 years old were current vapers, compared to 6% in 2018, and 4% were regular users, compared to 2% in 2018. We already have an age limit on sales of vapes, with the Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale and Proxy Purchasing) Regulations 2015 making it an offence to sell vapes to persons aged under 18 and for an adult to purchase them on behalf of a person aged under 18.

NHS: Pensions

Baroness Merron: To ask His Majesty's Government when they will respond to theNHS Pension Scheme: proposed amendments to scheme regulations consultation, which ran from 5 December 2022 to 30 January 2023.

Lord Markham: The Department published its response to the consultation on amendments to the NHS Pension Scheme on 7 March 2023 in an online-only format. Overall, the proposed changes were well received and most of the respondents agreed that they should be implemented. The Department therefore intends to proceed with the proposals it set out.

Electronic Cigarettes: Standards

Lord Storey: To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the companies that produce and sell e-cigarettes (1) have, and (2) have not, signed up to a voluntary code to seek a licence so that the products meet standards of safety and quality.

Lord Markham: The Department does not collect this information. Producers wishing to supply vapes and e-cigarettes on the United Kingdom market must comply with the product standards and safety requirements set out in the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016. This includes notifying their products to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency before they are placed on the UK market.

Health: Disadvantaged

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had, or plan to have, with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) regarding the types of products or disease areas it plans to focus on in piloting new approaches to assessing their impact on health inequalities in the population.

Lord Markham: The Department has had no such discussions. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has advised that its revised Equalities and Health Inequalities Assessment (EHIA) was developed and piloted in the Centre for Guidelines. Pilot topics include type two diabetes, weight management, breast cancer and atopic dermatitis in children aged under 12 years old. Once fully implemented, it is expected that this approach to consideration of health inequalities will be expanded across NICE guidance topics. Operational improvements to expand the EHIA to technology appraisals are in development, NICE does not currently expect to restrict this approach to specific topics.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Energy Performance Certificates

Lord Truscott: To ask His Majesty's Government whatassessment they have made of the effectiveness of Energy Performance Certificates.

Baroness Scott of Bybrook: Government continues to keep the effectiveness of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) under review.

Home Office

Refugees: Afghanistan

Lord Hylton: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will notify Afghan refugees in the UK starting with those who arrived under the Afghans Citizens Resettlement Scheme Pathway 3 of how they can apply to be reunited with close family members, regardless of where such family members are now located.

Lord Murray of Blidworth: In line with our existing policy, those resettled under the ACRS may be able to be accompanied by their immediate family members (their spouse or partner, and dependent children under 18).The government remains committed to providing protection for vulnerable and at-risk people fleeing Afghanistan. The situation is very complex and presents significant challenges, including how those who are eligible for resettlement in the UK can leave Afghanistan.This includes the eligible family members of those being resettled under the ACRS. For those evacuated from Afghanistan under the ACRS without their immediate family members, further information will be made available in due course about options for reuniting with them.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Committee on Climate Change: Public Appointments

Lord Lilley: To ask His Majesty's Government what is the (1) timetable, and (2) process, for appointing a new Chair of the Climate Change Committee; and how many applications were received for this post when it wasadvertised in July 2022.

Lord Callanan: Under the Climate Change Act 2008, the Department’s Secretary of State makes appointments to the Climate Change Committee jointly with his devolved counterparts. The Committee Chair’s role was first advertised last summer. Due to the limited number of applicants demonstrating sufficient experience, the appointing parties agreed to re-advertise using executive search services. The updated advertisement is due to go live this month.The role is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. In terms of process, the appointing parties follow the Governance Code for Public Appointments, including establishing an Advisory Assessment Panel that informs Ministers of progress throughout the competition.

Treasury

Import Duties: Urine Drainage Bags

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to ask HMRC to work with the World Customs Organisation’s Harmonised System Committee to reclassify urine drainage bags as medical devices for import tariff purposes.

Baroness Penn: HMRC has reviewed the classification of urine drainage bags and consider the classification 3926 to be correct. This is in line with classification decisions previously issued by the World Customs Organization, which member countries are expected to follow. Businesses who wish to make representations to reduce the UK import duty rate for these goods, or to make an application for a temporary suspension of import duties, may contact the Department for Business and Trade via TariffSuspensions@trade.gov.uk Covid-19 critical goods, which include Urine drainage bags, are currently subject to a 0 per cent rate of Customs duty until the end of 2023.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Palestinians: Elections

Lord Hylton: To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the Palestinian Authority on calling an election at the earliest possible date and ensuring that any such election is free, fair and subject to international monitoring.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We regularly remind the Palestinian leadership of the need for democratic renewal through free and fair national elections held across the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs), including East Jerusalem, as set out in the Oslo Accords. The Palestinian people should be allowed to enjoy their democratic rights. I reinforced this message during my visit to Israel and the OPTs on 10-13 January. The Foreign Secretary has also raised this with Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Malki in their phone call on 7 March.

Cabinet Office

Civil Servants: Coronavirus

Lord Blencathra: To ask His Majesty's Government whatinternal disciplinary action has been taken against officials who were fined for breaking Covid rules.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: The Metropolitan Police have made clear that they have issued Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) in private and the identities of recipients will not be released to the public or to their employer.In line with the practice of successive administrations, the Government does not comment on individual personnel matters.